Lent: The Light Of The World

Last week’s Gospel (the story of the Samaritan Woman) presented Jesus as the source of living water—the one who gives us the gift of God’s Spirit. Today’s Gospel presents Jesus as the light of the world—the one who helps us to see ourselves and the world as we ought to see ourselves.

The man born blind represents us when we lived apart from the grace of Christ. This is why St. Paul writes in today’s second reading that once we were darkness but now we are light. Once we lived apart from the saving grace of Jesus Christ. At that time we lived in the darkness that is sin, a darkness that deprived us of God’s life. But now we are in Christ, and we enjoy the light of Christ that is God’s own life.

At the end of today’s gospel after Jesus heals the man who had been blind from birth, some of the religious leaders ask him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus responds, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, “We see,” so your sin remains. With this remark Jesus condemns the religious leaders for refusing to accept the light of God’s life that he brings into the world.

The religious leaders do not realize the depth of their blindness. They think they see clearly. They think they know God. They think they are living as they ought. But the reality is that they suffer from blindness far more serious than the physical loss of sight. They do not see their real situation because they refuse to see themselves in the light of God that Jesus brings into their lives.

We live in a world in which many people think that they see clearly when in reality they do not see at all. They think the meaning and purpose of life is found in what they can see, and feel, and touch. They think that the meaning and purpose of life is the sum of their achievements and success. In St. Paul’s words, they live for this life only. They do not see God’s meaning and purpose for their life as revealed in Christ. They do not experience the life of God given in Christ who is the light of the world.

If you wear glass you know the difference between seeing with glasses and seeing without glasses. You understand that your vision is impaired and that it needs the assistance of glasses. And so it is with our life. It is only when we begin to see the world about us in the light of Christ that we see ourselves and the world as it really is. It is only when we begin to live our life in the light of faith that we understand the meaning and goal of our life. It is only with the “glasses of faith” that we truly see our life as it truly is.

Lent is a time to adjust our vision, to begin to see things in a new light and so in a new way. Lent is at time to ask for the gift of sight that comes from faith. It is a time to live and walk in the light of Christ, who is the light of the world.